What if Walt Disney had produced the Looney Tunes franchise?/Walt Disney Animated Classics/Mickey's PhilharMagic
Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 3D film attraction found at the Magic Kingdom theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Park (Paris). The film was directed by George Scribner, who is best known for directing Disney's 1988 animated film, Oliver & Company. Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 12-minute-long show featuring 3D effects, scents, and water, as well as a number of characters from Disney movies. Despite Mickey Mouse being the title-bearing character, it is Tom Cat who stars the show. It is shown on the largest purpose-built 3D screen ever made, at 150 feet wide. Locations At Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Mickey's PhilharMagic is located adjacent to Peter Pan's Flight and the Fantasy Faire shop in Fantasyland. This is the fourth attraction to utilize this show building. The theatre originally hosted the Looney Tunes Revue. Later, it was the home to the 3-D film Magic Journeys, after it left Epcot's Journey into Imagination pavilion to make way for Captain EO. Most recently, it was home to the stage presentation Legend of the Lion King. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Mickey's PhilharMagic is located adjacent to Royal Banquet Hall in Fantasyland. At Tokyo Disneyland, it takes the place of the Looney Tunes Revue, which was originally located at Walt Disney World before moving to Tokyo Disneyland as one of its original attractions. At Disneyland Paris, it takes the place of Discoveryland Theatre, taking over from previous attractions like the Disney Pixar & Short Film Festival, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience and Captain EO. It was making a French debut on October 1st, 2018. Development The attraction is unique in being one of a very select number of attractions in the Disney theme parks in which Walt Disney Imagineering has collaborated with another division of The Walt Disney Company – in this instance, it was Walt Disney Animation Studios. This same partnership developed the Fantasmic! shows at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Between the two companies, some of Disney's top talent worked together. Including Disney veteran Alex Mann, who was instrumental in developing and scripting the final story (in both the original version and the uploaded/current 2018 version). Legendary Disney animator Glen Keane re-rendered Ariel from The Little Mermaid in 3D, returning after rendering her in 2D in the original film. Nik Ranieri, supervising animator of Lumière in Beauty and the Beast, also returned to animate that character in 3D. In 2018, the attraction was reuploaded, adding songs from The Princess and the Frog, Tangled and Trolls into the film, with The Princess and the Frog being shown between Beauty and the Beast and An American Tale, Tangled being shown between Aladdin and Anastasia, and Trolls being shown between The Nightmare Before Christmas and Peter Pan. All of the lines on the musical numbers are archival recordings from their films (with the exceptions of Lumiere, Ariel, Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, Thumbelina, Rita, Jack Skellington, Poppy, Branch and Peter Pan) due to the characters' current voice actors being too busy, while most of Tom Cat's dialogue is actually archival recordings by his original voice actor, Mel Blanc. Billy West, Tom's current voice actor, recorded only ten new lines for the character in this attraction (such as the respective scenes where Tom hums to the tune of the songs "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast and "Chin Up!" from Charlotte's Web). Plot The theater doors open. Mickey Mouse is performing with his PhilharMagic Orchestra at the Looney Tunes Concert Hall. Inside, there are posters advertising the Concert Hall's past productions and performers, such as Bugs Bunny & Yosemite Sam, Tweety, Babbit & Castello, Jerry Mouse, Daffy Duck & Elmer Fudd, The Pink Panther & the Blue Aardvark, Barnyard Dawg & Sylvester Pussycat, Woody Woodpecker, Michigan J. Frog, Porky Pig, The Three Caballeros (Donald Duck, Jose Carioca & Panchito Pistoles), The Big Bad Wolf and The Three Little Pigs. Upon entering the theater's lobby, guests pick up their "opera glasses" (3D glasses). During their wait, guests hear orchestral music from Fantasia and other Disney animated films. Goofy, the Concert Hall's stage manager, admits the guests into the main theater, where final preparations for the performance are underway. Minnie Mouse then tells the guests to put on their "opera glasses." Minnie then realizes that Tom Cat has gone missing and goes to tell Mickey. Goofy and janitors Jerry Mouse, Spike Bulldog and Donald Duck then raise the curtain to reveal that the stage is empty, except for a conductor's podium and Tom, who is sleeping in a box. Mickey races onto the stage in a hurry, quickly telling Tom to unpack the instruments. Mickey places his famous Sorcerer's Hat on the podium, then leaves, telling Tom "Don't forget the orchestra. And don't touch my hat!". After Tom unpacks all the instruments, including a grand piano, from the small box, he is tempted to try on the Sorcerer's Hat himself. He does so, which causes the magical instruments to come to life and play an extremely unpleasant melody. However, when Tom picks on and taunts a small flute, the other instruments rise up against him, creating a chaotic whirlwind of magic and music. Tom loses the hat in the storm and passes through different scenes from different Disney movies while trying to retrieve the hat. Around the show, Tom travels through musical numbers from Beauty and the Beast, The Princess and the Frog, An American Tale, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin, Tangled, Anastasia, Charlotte's Web, Thumbelina, Lady and the Tramp, Rita and Runt, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Trolls, and Peter Pan. In the final Peter Pan number, Tom finally retrieves the hat but unfortunately, the hat gets knocked away by Iago, and Tom flies after it. He encounters the magical whirlwind from earlier. Tom gets sucked inside, finding himself back onstage, still in the whirlwind. Mickey returns, puts on the hat, and uses its powers to restore order. As Mickey conducts the orchestra, Tom gets stuck in a tuba, which launches him across the theater so that he lodges headfirst in its back wall. Tom, in audio animatronic form, is stuck in a hole in the back of the theater. Only his rear end and legs are visible. After struggling from falling in, he eventually falls into the hole and is no longer seen (but heard saying "I didn't hurt myself! I'm okay!"). It is not shown in the Paris version however. In the end, Goofy tells the audience to return their "opera glasses" in the bins outside of the theater and says goodbye to the viewers. Voice Talents Original (English) version * Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse * Billy West as Tom Cat ** Mel Blanc (Tom's original voice; archival recordings) * Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse * Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck * Bill Farmer as Goofy * Spike Brandt as Spike Bulldog * William Hanna (archival recordings) as Jerry Mouse * Jerry Orbach as Lumière * Michael-Leon Wooley (archival recordings) as Louis * Bruno Campos (archival recordings) as Prince Naveen * Anika Noni Rose (archival recordings) as Tiana * Betsy Cathcart (archival recordings) as Anne-Marie Moskowitz * Jodi Benson as Ariel, Thumbelina * Jason Weaver (archival recordings) as Simba * Rowan Atkinson (archival recordings) as Zazu * Brad Kane as Aladdin * Lea Salonga as Princess Jasmine * Mandy Moore (archival recordings) as Rapunzel * Zachary Levi (archival recordings) as Flynn Rider * Liz Callaway (archival recordings) as Anastasia * Debbie Reynolds (archival recordings) as Charlotte * Gary Imhoff (archival recordings) as Prince Cornelius * George Givot (archival recordings) as Tony * Bernadette Peters as Rita * Richard Kind (archival recordings) as Runt * Ed Gilbert (archival recordings) as Puggsy * David Lander (archival recordings) as Frankie Da Flea * Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington * Anna Kendrick as Princess Poppy * Justin Timberlake as Branch * Blayne Weaver as Peter Pan * Gilbert Gottfried as Iago Japanese dubbing * Takashi Aoyagi as Mickey Mouse * Kōichi Yamadera as Tom Cat * Yū Shimaka as Goofy * Junko Hori as Jerry Mouse According to Disney staff members at Walt Disney World, an estimate of about 80 talented musicians and/or background singers performed the music for the film as well as the return of famed composers James Horner (An American Tale), Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and Barry Manilow (Thumbelina) and lyricists Richard and Robert Sherman (Charlotte's Web) and Tim Rice (Aladdin, The Lion King), who arranged the music for each song they had worked on since some verses or lines of these songs were omitted for this attraction. In 2018, the film was uploaded, adding three songs from recent Disney films; "When We're Human" (from The Princess and the Frog), "I See the Light" (from Tangled) and "Can't Stop the Feeling" (from Trolls). Songs * Mickey Mouse March * Be Our Guest * The Sorcerer's Apprentice * When We're Human (added in 2018) * Somewhere Out There * Part of Your World * I Just Can't Wait to Be King * A Whole New World * Let Me Be Your Wings * I See the Light (added in 2018) * Once Upon a December * Chin Up! * Bella Notte * Friends to the End * What's This? * Can't Stop the Feeling (added in 2018) * You Can Fly * Mickey Mouse March (reprise) Trivia * The attraction was rumored to be replicated at Disney California Adventure as a replacement for Muppet*Vision 3D during that park's big expansion, but it never happened due to the size of the Muppet-Vision theater being too small for it. * At the time it was made, the land of Agrabah was the largest 3-D environment ever created. * In the Paris version, Minnie, Lumiere, Ariel, and Aladdin and Jasmine are the only characters to have French actors. ** Ariel is the only character to sing both English and French.